Dark chestnut brown with off-white head. Tight, small bubbles and smells of sugar, spice, and phenols.

Very tasty, smooth medium bodied ale with rich flavors of brown sugar, bread dough, rum, and fruit. Carbonation is ample, which allows the mouthfeel to not be overbearing with strong flavors. Creamy, but dry, in the finish. A red wine lover should easily convert to beer via this style of beer.

This is a must-try if you like sweet, dark Belgian-style ales. Would be a great accompaniment to jerk chicken.

A: Pours a dark amber red with a two finger beige head that forms. The head recedes pretty fast with light lace.S: A dry burnt wood aroma. Malty with some brown sugar. Not much here.T: Malty of course. Lots of raisins and brown sugar. A large burnt wood flavor that follows the nose.M/D: A medium body that is creamy and rich. The alcohol show a bit, but an easy and smooth beer to sip on for the most part.

Not a bad Dubbel, but I have had much better. Not very complex. Though a pleasant enough example of the style. I always like to support Abbey and Trappist Ales as well.

Taste: Sweet bread dough, with rum-soaked dates and anise developing by mid-palate, along with bitter almond skin notes; after the swallow, the brandy aspect builds considerably, a touch phenolic with an underlying raisin, brown sugar and vanilla sweetness on the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium body with sprightly carbonation; warmth on the finish

Drinkability: The dark fruits aren't as complex as with other dubbels; still, a quality brew

A: Pours a murky brown with a light tan head that gushes a bit, the carbonation was foaming at the top of the bottle before I even had a chance to pour it, good head retention, the head is quite fizzy.

S: Distinct smell of prunes, dried dark fruit and black currants.

T: Taste is good, the flavours are not overpowering, they manage to be subtle and complex at the same time. Dark pumpkernickel bread with notes of rye are intertwined with dark fruit character - raisins for sure and prune. Hit of molasses at the end as well as a hint of winter spice. Sweet notes of cake batter in the aftertaste. All around good flavour, it is imperative to drink this at at least 50-55F.

M: Carbonation is very high, though it didn't explode in my mouth like other relatively young bottle conditioned beers can do. Give it a few good swirls before tasting, as you pick up some more notes from the nose, the mouthfeel will be much more drinkable. The overall lightness on the tongue completely hides the 8%.

D: This is a good abbey beer. It's not the most striking Dubbel in flavour I've ever had, but it is distinctly Belgian and it would make a great starting point for those just beginning to get into Belgium's wonderful and diverse brews. It's got something in there for everyone I think. One of the most drinkable high gravity brews I've ever had. Recommended.

Appearance: Pours a deep, chestnut red-brown that is near opaque. Nice head that subsides at just the right speed, good lacing.

Smell: Prunes, dates, plumbs, brandy-soaked oranges, caramel. Very rich and inviting smell. Perhaps a hint of nuttiness and a touch of peppery spice & cloves/cinnamon. Some ginger as well.

Taste: Similar to the smell - prunes, dates, plumbs, caramel, malts, and brandy-soaked oranges. There is a candy sugar-sweetness with a hint of molasses and brown sugar which makes it perfect - balancing the hops very well. Reminds me of bread pudding with raisins with a rich rum/brandy topping.

Mouthfeel: Wow. Body is weightless and perfect. You feel it more than you taste it, although it could be .0001 heavier.

Deep iced coffee/chestnut brown body topped by rye head that's quite chewy and leaves a nicely-laced sheet. A few floates in there...

Not sure of surrounding aromatics from the kitchen but this is hearty yet mild...malt-forward with electric yeast strains and a fair amount of mellow gingerbread and stewy malt. Good ester presence with a touch of clove.

At first a little salty with slight metal aftertaste but these move on quickly and are replaced by a calming bittersweeet chocolate feel and light clove spice. Extra-hearty briased malt and slight carbonation and hop pine pop. Warmth helps this a great deal - very smooth.

More of a bite on the palate than its little brother Pater 6 - mildly roasted coffee beans mix with grass/pine hop presence for well-balanced complexity. More profound than its taste profile indicates.

As with a fair amount of Dubbel offerings the whole is greater than the sum of this one's parts. Quite drinkable with well-hidden alchohol. Part of one of the better gift sets I've seen in a while.

Poured into a caracole tulip glass. Pours a dark, murky amber with a cream white head with some decent lacing afterwords. Heavy carbonation. Pours with a sound like a bubbly soda. There are subtle sweet, prune/light fruitty aromas hiding in there, but not much on the surface. The aromas are nice and clean.

I am having trouble gathering my taste buds around this one. There's a nice heavy body, which helps even out the carbonation but there's also this kinda sweet, sugar feel to it as well. I am also experiencing a creaming aspect as well. I'm thinking root beer or cream soda (maybe even a dull vanilla?), but very mild in comparison. Everything seems hidden in there.

I have had this beer before and i don't remember it tasting like this. This is not to say I am disappointed, just I remember this beer differently. I wonder what aging would do to this one. Good beer, just not what I remembered.

This poured an opaque brown with light tan head. It smelled like creamy sweet yeast and caramel malt and grassy hops. It tasted like rich malty caramel and creamy yeast, with orange and lime hops. The yeast became more pronounced as it warmed. It was watery with some carbonation, and had a bittersweet aftertaste. Overall this had very nice flavor that was fairly simple but very clean and enjoyable. Texture was good too, and alcohol was well hidden, making this easy to rink. Very nice dubbel.

Pours from a 330ml bottle into a globe glass. It appears to have a dark brown color but, when held up to the light, it actually displayed a beautiful red hue. There's a huge mountain of head on it and it sticks around quite well. Small yeast floaties nothing to fear.

Aroma is spectacular in its rich complexity. Spicy, fruity, and that distinct Belgian yeast. I must have smelled it half a dozen times before my first sip.

Flavor is equally great with lots of fruit (oranges and bananas), vegetables? (pumpkin and squash), and spices (corriander, cardamom, clove). There's even some bread-like characteristics either from the malt or the yeast, or both. Complex and delicious as only the Belgians have perfected.

Mouthfeel is higher in carbonation than I prefer but common in abbey ales. Medium body with a slight alcohol burn.

Drinkability is good but it's special enough to just savor the one small serving for an entire evening.

Pours dark brown, fairly opaque, with amber hued edges. A one inch light brown head forms on the pour and doesn't linger long. Relatively poor retention and no lacing.

The aroma is decent. Very grainy, cereal like. It kind of reminds me more of German Doppelbock than a Dubbel. I'm not sure what else to say, grain, cereal, bread, and hay.

The taste is decent. Certainly a grainy malt profile dominates. Notes of cereal and bread as well as hay. Behind the malting is a touch of fruit and a slight yeast spice. It's really interesting, and I think I'll really dig it as it warms a bit more.

The beer poured a cloudy brown with a light tan head. The aroma is a spicy crystal malt. The taste is sweet malt, an almost peppery set of spices, and a wonderful alcohol burn. The feel is heavy and wet. I liked this one, just a nice smooth spicy beer with a good bit of alcohol in the beer and apparent in the taste. Definately one I'll need to sample again in the future.

I tasted this bottle on 19.09.2008 (BB 21 09 12). I used a Chimay goblet. It poured a darkish brown liquid with a light tan-coloured head. Light lacing. A dark brown yeast deposit poured leaving it to resemble a capaccino with brown chocolate powder sprinkled on the top.

An immediate rich malty aroma wafted from it.The taste was not overly complex, but a nice balanced combination of malt and hops. The mouthfeel was super smooth giving the beer a great finish.

Poured a nice deep copper red with a nice light tan head. Plenty of lacing in the snifter during drinking.Smelled of some yeast, some fig and dark fruit, and brown sugar. Taste was similar to the smell, a little more fig and cinnamon and nutmeg in the flavor. Some good phenols and warming alcohol.Mouthfeel was smooth but refreshing and left great alcohol flavors and esters on the palate.Overall a very drinkable dubbel, but I prefer some others I have tried.

Pours caramel/orange. this beer is ruby brown when sitting in my chalice, the head soapy yet holding up. Lots of sediment floating in the body. Big notes of green apple/cider, some plum, bit of grain, and dark fruits. This beer is medium bodied with a pinch of alcohol. Chalky tasting at first, out comes a bit of unsweetened cocoa. Dried dates and squaw bread round off the taste.

The flavors are too mild and powdery compared to other Belgian dubbels in the land. Worth a taste.

A - Poured a roasty-looking brown into a Duvel tulip. Head was not all that active, though it appeared well-carbonated.

S - Smelled tasty. Chocolate and raisins, some vinous port aromas.

T - Complicated. At times sweet, at times drying. Alcohol is pretty assertive at times, contributing a spiciness. More notes of chocolate and raisin. I also pick up on an odd note of diacetyl I wasn't really expecting, and wasn't too fond of. I've had the Abt 12 several times, and never noted this.

F - Full-bodied, it's nice and creamy.

D - I don't find this the most drinkable Dubbel in the world. That I found it somewhat buttery like an English Brown didn't help. I find Chimay Red a much drier, more elegant example.

Appearance: Beware explosive head. (Almost) made a fool of myself with a fairly quick pour, but was able to prevent spillage by sucking down the mushroom-clouding foam. Moving on: bubbly head dissipates pretty fast leaving no lacing that I can see. Color is murky auburn with loads of sediment suspended throughout.

Taste: Figs, molasses, chocolate and banana with a big malt base. Alcohol comes through in the aftertaste but is not unpleasant (<- is that a double-negative?). Not overly complex, but definitely tasty.

Drinkability: What's the ABV on this puppy? ...eight percent. Flavor is pretty strong and body is heavy. Lump that together with a fairly big ABV and what do you get? Lower drinkability. Good beer, but I'm fine with just one.

Another selection from a St. Bernardus mixed 6 pack I recently purchased. This one pours a hazy dark brown color (similar to the last one the Pater 6). Nice foamy head that does taper off a bit. Aroma is slightly malty and grainy but it's faint, there's just not much there. There is however quite a bit of flavor. It seems relatively full-bodied too. The taste is malty, quite sweet, brown sugar, with some fruit and caramel. It all blends in nicely, but it's not the type of beer I would drink several of at one seating. Good thing too as it's not cheap.